High school football: Chardon’s Kline impresses at camp

Chase Kline continues to open eyes on the national football recruiting scene.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound junior linebacker from Chardon was named the linebacker Most Valuable Player at the Rivals.com Three-Stripe camp at Hilliard Bradley High School just outside of Columbus.

That performance, not to mention his performance this past season for the Chardon football team, was likely a reason he got yet another scholarship offer on May 18 — this one from Boston College.

Kline now has offers from Iowa State, Syracuse, Toledo, Ohio, Princeton, Yale, Pennsylvania, Notre Dame College and John Carroll — in addition to Boston College — heading into the summer.

Being MVP of a big camp like the Three-Stripe Camp certainly doesn’t hurt.

“It was pretty cool,” Kline said of the camp. “I felt really good about my performance. I had my legs under me and performed well.”

Aside from the regular warm-up circuits and linebacker technique drills, Kline took part in the Cat-and-Mouse drill, where running backs and linebackers go head-to-head in pursuit drills, and a 1-on-1 pass coverage drill where linebackers have to cover running backs, tight ends and receivers.

“I did really well on those. I never lost,” said Kline, who even got the best of Ohio State four-star recruit Jaelen Gill. “I went up against the best and didn’t lose.”

Kline said he is scheduled to go to camps at Ohio State and Michigan State this summer, as well as Michigan’s satellite camp at John Carroll.

He said he plans to continue his individual workouts to get stronger and faster. He has been laser-timed at 4.7 in the 40.

The offers from prospective colleges will undoubtedly continue to come in. Kline said he has already registered a 28 on the ACT college-entrance exam, and holds a 3.5 grade-point average.

He said getting offers from three Ivy League schools — Princeton, Yale and Penn — means a lot to him.

“It’s nice to be recruited by such prestigious colleges like that,” said Kline, who said he takes his academics seriously. “I’m not the typical dumb-jock stereotype. It shows the kind of person you are if you keep up with grades, life, football and everything.”

When asked if he is leaning a certain way in recruiting — or even more summer camps — Kline said he is keeping a level head.